Sure, it felt a little strange to see mail addressed to Meredith McLean, but it wasn’t really any different in the way they worked together. They still talked and argued, they still poured over the comics together on Sunday morning, lounging in bed until after noon. They read What to Expect When You’re Expecting, grimacing at some of the descriptions of the changes Meredith’s body was going through, laughing at others.
A little concerned at no drastic changes, he called Kevin. “Hey, man, what’s up?”
“Working on some foundation stuff. You?”
“Not much. Fooled around with some music, talked about doing a JNN appearance. The usual.” AJ leaned back in his chair, swiveling it idly with his toes.
They were silent for a few moments.
“Bone, do you need something?” Kevin’s voice was questioning, but not impatient, and AJ was relieved at that.
“I thought it would be different.”
“What?”
“Being married. I thought there would be some huge difference that would point out the fact that I am now legally bound to someone else.”
Kevin’s chuckle grew into laughter. “You expecting some ball and chain to magically appear around your ankle?”
“No, not that bad. Just…different.” The younger man closed his eyes to the sunlight pouring into the window.
“I know what you mean, but to be honest. Not much has changed between me and Irene other than her name and her address. We still argue about what we argued about before. We still laugh at the same things. The only difference is the feeling I get when I look up and see her and know that she’s with me for the rest of our lives.”
“It is nice, isn’t it?” AJ grinned.
“It’s very nice.” Kevin chuckled again. “Look, I don’t think it’s a bad thing that things aren’t that much different between you two. I think it just shows that you knew each other before you got married, and the wedding rings just kind of sealed the deal. You get me?”
“Yeah, Kev, I get you. Look, I’ve got to go. We’ve got a doctor’s appointment in about thirty minutes.”
“I’ll catch you later, AJ.”
“Bye, Kev.”
He hung up the phone, feeling much better about the lack of change in his life.
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It never failed to amaze him how quickly things changed. It seemed that Meredith grew every day, the baby moving more and more. He liked seeing her pregnant with his baby, and he supposed it was all tied into the Latin machismo passed down through the generations. He had to laugh as he remembered Meredith telling him that he could beat on his chest once a month while she was pregnant, but no more or she would deck him. He had given a half-hearted Tarzan yell before collapsing on the bed in laughter.
He liked going to the doctor with her, watching them measure her belly and talk about mood swings and hormones and cravings. The sonogram had just about floored him, and when he heard the baby’s heartbeat for the first time, they both cried.
This visit went much like the others—weigh in, blood pressure, measurement. He watched everything with careful scrutiny. The doctor breezed in and out, going through his usual list of questions and checks before asking if they had any questions. After the first few visits, when AJ appeared with a long list, Dr. Williams limited the amount of time he spent on the question and answer period unless he saw that there was a need to be concerned.
AJ just snickered as he watched the man rush through the end of the visit before turning them over to the nurse practitioner. Meredith arched an eyebrow as she stared at him.
“Don’t piss him off, mine. He’ll have a say so in the epidural.”
He pressed a hand to his chest. “Me? Piss someone off? I think you’ve got the wrong man.”
She grabbed his tee shirt and pulled him close, kissing him quickly. “Oh, I’ve got the right man, all right.”
He laughed as he watched her get dressed.
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Nick twirled around in Allyson’s chair, looking around her office as he waited for her to get out of class. They had dinner plans that evening, and he liked sitting in her office with her logic books and work on the puzzles until she arrived.
She arrived, throwing her books down on the desk and slumping into a free chair. “If I get one more wedding question, I’m going to scream.”
“Wedding question?” He looked up from his book, twirling a pencil between his fingers.
“Yeah. Between Irene and Kevin and AJ and Meredith, and then there’s the whole Lumien/Howie thing going on, all my students are asking when we’re getting married.”
“What did you tell them?” He was curious, since he had been thinking about the same thing himself.
“I said you hadn’t asked, and I hadn’t asked.” She bent over to gather her hair in her hands before sitting up and clipping it out of the way. “Then I threatened to drop them a letter grade if they don’t cease and desist.”
“God, I love it when you get all teacherly.” He rolled over to her, grasping her chin and kissing her.
“Teacherly? Is that a word?” She grinned at him as he leaned back.
“It is now. Consider it a new addition to the Backstreet dictionary.” Nick winked at her. “You ready for dinner?”
“Yeah, babe. Let’s get out of here.” Allyson grabbed her purse before following Nick out of the office.
She made sure the door was locked before turning to face him. He took her hand, entwining their fingers as they walked down the halls. The sight of them was a fairly normal occurrence, so they were rarely stopped. He climbed into the passenger seat of Allyson’s Lexus SUV and buckled himself in. She did the same and started the engine, cranking up the Limp Bizkit CD that was currently playing. They drove over to Don Pablo’s, and Nick always said they were returning to the scene of the crime since it had been the location of their first date.
When they were settled at a table in the back, chips, salsa, and drinks in front of them, Nick broached the subject again.
“So, they’ve been bothering you about us getting married?” He scooped up some salsa with a chip as he watched her.
She shrugged. “Curious more than anything. We’ve been together a while, so they want to know.”
“Do you want to get married?” He studied her for a moment.
Looking at him, she wondered how he would take her answer. “I don’t think a piece of paper is necessary for commitment.”
He thought about it for a moment and frowned a little. “That’s a rather *nice* way of saying you don’t want to marry me.”
Reaching out, Allyson grasped his hand. “No, that’s a rather subtle way of saying I don’t need to have a marriage license to be with you forever.”
He looked into her blue eyes and saw the truth, and it made him sigh in relief. “I can go with that.”
She grinned and leaned back as their server placed their meals in front of them. Halfway through the meal, Nick suddenly looked up at her.
“So, you wanna get committed?”
Allyson almost fell out her chair as she laughed.
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Brian studied the table in front of him. He glanced at the clock, noting that he had about thirty minutes before Serenity would arrive home from work. She had moved in with him after the Black & Blue tour was over, switching to the day shift at work so she could spend time with him at home.
The past few months had been wonderful for them both. All of the weddings he had attended in the past year made him think more and more about spending his life with Serenity. She was different than any other woman he had met, standing firmly on her own two feet and not relying on his career to further her own. She was happy writing code, and that made him happy.
Serenity strolled into the house, tossing her keys and purse on the table. “Honey, I’m home!”
“Out here!”
She followed the sound to the patio, smiling at the intimate table for two “This is nice.”
Wrapping her arms around, she leaned in to nuzzle his neck. He chuckled as he patted her arm. “You deserve it.”
He escorted her to her chair and seated her, pouring a glass of wine before sitting down in his seat and pouring another glass. He removed the cover of the first dish on the cart, and she grinned at her favorite soup.
As they were eating, Brian casually stirred his soup. “Talked to your parents today.”
Serenity lifted her eyes to stare at the man across the table from her. “Really? About?”
“Oh, little of this; little of that. Talked about the family. Talked about the Sooners. Asked for their permission to marry you.”
She almost choked on her soup, dropping the spoon onto the table. “What?!”
He smiled at her. “Well, I read I was supposed to ask their permission first, so I did.”
Serenity leaned back in her chair and just laughed. Brian cocked an eyebrow as he waited for her to refocus on him.
“Are you done now?”
She nodded.
“Okay.” He got up and moved to kneel beside her. Taking one hand, he placed it over his heart.
“You know, I really like you. I like everything about you, and that makes you so easy to love. So I want to make sure I don’t let you slip away from me. Will you marry me, Serenity?”
She looked at their hands resting on his chest, felt the steady beat of his heart beneath her palm. Everything about them felt right, and she couldn’t help loving the fact that he had followed tradition and asked her parents first.
“Yes.”
Bending down, she kissed him. He grinned when they parted, rising and moving back to his chair. Serenity grinned back.
“So what else are we having for dinner?”
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“You know, it’s a damn good thing we’ve got enough money or we’d go broke buying wedding gifts.” AJ scrolled through the web site he had found, searching for the perfect gift.
Meredith maneuvered herself off the sofa and moved to stand behind him. “Love is in the air.”
He snorted. “I think they’re jonesing for really cool gifts, myself.”
Kissing him on the top of the head, she murmured an agreement before heading down to the kitchen.
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Weekend gatherings were quickly becoming commonplace during the warm Florida spring, and it was not uncommon to have members of *N Sync around because of BJ and Lance.
AJ walked through the kitchen, opening the door to his pantry. He stood there for several moments then closed the door. He walked back outside to the grill, and Meredith looked at him.
“We didn’t have any more paper plates?”
“Can you come with me for a moment?”
She followed him into the kitchen, and AJ motioned for her to open the door. She opened it and looked at the two men before reaching past them for the paper plates. Then she closed the door again and headed back outside. AJ just leaned against the refrigerator and watched as JC and Justin emerged from the room, blushes tingeing their cheeks.
“Um, sorry, man.” Justin shrugged.
JC sighed. “We haven’t seen each other in four days.”
AJ just looked at them. “I go days without seeing D, but I don’t usually greet him like that when I see him.”
“Unh, well, see, it’s…because, well.” JC fumbled over his words, finally quieting when he saw the smile on AJ’s face. “Merry didn’t tell you?”
“Naw, man. She wouldn’t have told this because it’s your deal. However, if you continue to go around kissing in my pantry, I might have to take pictures for blackmail material or something.”
“We’re really sorry, AJ. We only meant to be in there for a quick kiss hello.” Justin shrugged.
“It’s cool. I’m guessing you’ve told your guys?”
The younger man nodded. “Yeah, but not too many other people besides family, though.”
The three men headed outside. Lance looked up and recognized the looks on his friends’ faces, then looked at AJ and figured their host had found them. Kevin’s call that the burgers were ready interrupted his thoughts, and he followed BJ over to fix his plate. He cast a quick glance at the playpen where Brennan was sleeping before grabbing a beer. When everyone was served, Justin cleared his throat.
“Can I have y’all’s attention?”
Everyone looked at him, and he cast a quick look at JC, who nodded. Justin winked at him.
“JC and I have appreciated your friendship with everything that has gone on, and we figured y’all need to know that we’re together.”
There was silence for several moments before Nick spoke up. “As a couple?”
JC nodded. “Yeah, as a couple.”
“Okay.” He nodded and went back to eating his burger.
Everyone else nodded in acceptance and went back to their meal. The two men sighed in relief before starting on their own plates. When Justin looked around again, he caught Meredith’s eye and she just winked.
Later that afternoon, Lance was cuddling Brennan as the baby played with his stuffed Larry the Cucumber. AJ dropped down into a chair next to him, stretching and yawning.
“Looking a little tired there, AJ.”
The other man’s eyes wandered towards his wife, and Lance grinned. “Now you know why I was taking so many vitamins.”
“Vitamins?” AJ turned his head back to his friend.
“When BJ and I got together, she was past the tired stage of her pregnancy. I really started loading up on the vitamins and complex carbs just to keep up with her. They never tell you in the book just how horny pregnant women can be.”
That caused the dark-haired man to laugh, peering over his sunglasses. “No, they don’t quite tell you that.”
“I thought I was bad as a teenager, but ‘whew!’.” Lance winked before picking up the stuffed animal the baby dropped.
“Whatcha talkin’ about guys?” Nick spun a chair around and straddled it.
“Horny pregnant women.”
The young man looked at both men and shuddered, holding up his hand. “No, don’t wanna hear it.” He looked over at BJ and Meredith and shuddered again.
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He made no bones about the fact that he loved the ocean and he loved the sunshine. He was fortunate Allyson felt the same, making vacations much easier to plan. They decided in February that the two and a half weeks between the spring semester and the summer term would be spent in Aruba—sunning, swimming, scuba diving, and seafood. They would return to Orlando just in time for Howie and Lumien’s wedding.
The evening of their second day, Nick looked across the table at Allyson, the candlelight dancing across her face, and he sighed. She looked at him for a moment, but he just smiled and continued eating his dinner. When they finished, they strolled back to their bungalow.
“Hey, let’s take a walk on the beach.” He toed off his sandals and left them lying near the door.
“Sounds beautiful.” Allyson slipped off her shoes and left them next to Nick’s.
He disappeared into the bedroom for a moment while she continued out to the back deck. Their bungalow sat right on the edge of the beach and had a wraparound porch, allowing them the opportunity to head for the ocean in between bouts of lying on the hammock strung between porch columns.
Allyson leaned on the rail and breathed in the salt air, relaxing a little more as thoughts of school and students and celebrity life faded into the background. She felt his arm circle her waist and then the press of his head as he rested it against her back.
“You ready?” She spoke softly, not wanting to disturb the peace they had found.
“Yeah.”
Hand in hand, they strolled down the beach and began to walk. After fifteen minutes, Nick stopped and looked around. The moon cast a silver glow across the beach, painting the water in a shimmery streak. He turned to Allyson and took both of her hands.
“I’ve been thinking.”
She didn’t laugh at him, at the notion that he actually thought about things. She just waited for him to say what he needed to say. He loved that about her.
“I know that neither one of us really wants to get married right now, but I don’t want you to have any doubts about what you mean to me or how important you are in my life. I love you, Allyson, and you make everything okay when I can’t seem to figure out what I’m doing or where I need to be.”
He released one of her hands to dig into his pocket and pull out the rings he had purchased.
“So I got these so we could wear them to know that we are bound together…committed to one another.” He finally looked into her eyes and then smiled.
Allyson held out her left hand, and he slid the ring onto it. She looked down for a moment then reached out to take the other ring. Sliding it onto his finger, she finally looked up into his face.
“I have never believed that having that piece of paper was what kept people together. It’s a matter of the heart and the spirit and the mind to make that choice and to believe in each other and be willing to work to make it last. I love you, Nick, and I want to be with you for the rest of my life. Wherever you go, I’ll go; and wherever you stay, I’ll stay.”
They leaned forward, sealing their promise with a kiss. When they finally pulled apart, they shared a smile and strolled back to their bungalow to consummate their commitment.
Table of Contents
Chapter Five